Supernatural

Chapter 11

The ride between Dean and Aimée was quite silent. Aimée wondered if Dean was still mad at her for dating Cas. Dean glanced at his sister, but then looked back at the road.

Finally Aimée couldn't stand the silence anymore and blurted out, "Dean, I'm sorry!"

Dean stopped the car on the side of the road, turning to look at her. He sighed, staying silent, unsure how to say what he wanted to say.

He decided to just outright ask her, "Why did you think you couldn't tell Sam and me about Cas? We're your brothers, you can tell us pretty much anything."

"I was scared," she says softly, playing with her hands.

"Why?" Dean asks.

"Because I felt as if you were going to be mad or yell at me," she said.

"I would have been less mad if you had told me right away than I am now that I know you've been keeping it a secret for three years," he says.

Aimée looks at the floor of the car with a heavy sigh before mumbling again, "I'm sorry."

"Me too," Dean muttered, pulling back onto the road and continuing towards one of the suspects' house.

Aimée looked out the windshield, lost in thought until they pulled up in front of a house.

Dean glanced at her and then silently grabbed the box of fake ID's they kept in the car, rifling through it before handing her one with her pseudonym and picture on it and saying, "Let's go."

"Okay," she says softly opening her car door.

"What? You don't want to work this case with me anymore?" he half-teased.

"No, I want to but I didn't know you and Sam had fake IDs made for me," she says stepping out of the car.

"We got them done a few weeks ago, just in case," he says as they walk up to the house.

"Thank you, Dean," Aimée says softly, following him up to the house.

"You want to take the lead?" he asks her.

"I don't know what to say," Aimée replies softly, looking at him.

"Watch and learn then, sis," he teases as he knocks on the door.

Aimée looked at Dean as someone opened the door.

"FBI," he says and flashes his badge before asking questions.

Aimée stays close to Dean, slightly frightened.

He gives her a reassuring look before continuing to talk to the suspect and asking if her son was home. Aimée looked around the house, searching for any clues of some sort. Dean glanced at Aimée, watching her out of the corner of his eye as he continued talking to the mom of the person they suspected broke into the church.

After a little bit of thinly-veiled intimidation, the boy finally fessed up to having snuck around in the church but swore he didn't steal anything, claiming it was his friend. The friend that Sam and Ash were currently talking to.

"Dude, just give us what you took. We'll cut you a deal and maybe if you're lucky it won't even go on your record cause you're still a minor," Ash bargained, trying to convince the terrified kid sitting across from them.

His mom was at work, but upon seeing Sam's no-nonsense look--and probably the fact that he could knock the kid out with one punch and looked intimidating enough to do so--the kid had let them in to talk to him.

"You guys don't look like FBI agents. You came here on a rad motorcycle," he argued.

"Uh, we--" Sam fumbled for an explanation, glancing at Ash.

"We're initiating a new program at the FBI that they hope will make agents more approachable for civilians. And also we weren't on the job when we got a call about the church being broken into a few days ago," Ash explained matter-of-factly.

"Wait, are you two, like, dating?" the kid asked.

Sam glanced panickedly at Ash but then immediately cleared his throat and answered, "No, we're not. Believe me, I've had her as my partner for years and people always make that mistake."

The kid gave them a suspicious look, but then Ash remarked casually, "You know we could still arrest you for impeding a murder investigation."

"M-murder?" the boy squeaked, his voice breaking.

The dead-panned stares aimed at him were enough to make him rise to his feet, stammering out, "I--I just wanted to make a few extra bucks on the side. I didn't know it was, like, evidence or anything. There was a rumor it was in the old church so we went and checked it out. I'll--I'll go get it right now," he said, nearly tripping over his feet on his way out of the room.

"Think we should follow him?" Sam asked.

"No, I think your fumbling explanations were enough to scare him, Winchester," Ash said, dead serious even though she was seeping sarcasm.

"Usually I do this with Dean. Your approach is...different," he answered.

"You meant blatantly lying and not even bothering to cover the fact that we're not actually FBI aside from the fake IDs? Yeah, I know, but hey, it works for me," she said innocently.

The boy came back and thrust a large worn wooden box in their direction with an abrupt, "Here. You won't arrest me now or anything, will you?"

"We'll be filing a report. Don't be stupid again or we'll be back and you won't get off so easy," Ash threatened, and Sam called a, "Thank you," over his shoulder as they let themselves out.

'Got it.' Sam sent a quick text to Dean as Ash took the box from him and put it in her storage compartment. That thing could certainly hold a lot more than it appeared, Sam thought, but then they put their helmets back on and took off, meeting up with Dean and Aimée back at the motel.

Aimée sits down on the bed, looking around lost in her own little world. Ash handed the box over to Dean, who checked the contents. The hook was there, along with a daguerreotype or two and some old papers, jewelry, and trinkets.

"Strange stuff to be kept under the floor of a church," Sam remarked.

Aimée continues to stay lost in her own little world as Dean argues that they should just burn the hook and see if they can pawn the rest of the stuff but Sam takes Ash's side saying burn it all, just in case. Aimée stayed zoned out until Dean yelled her name.

"What?" she asked, startled out of whatever trance she had been in.

"Tie breaker. Burn just the hook and make some money or burn the whole box and stay broke?" he asks her.

"I don't know but may I go for a walk, please?" she asked looking at the three of them.

Ash turned to Sam and Dean and asked incredulously, "You seriously make her ask to go for a walk? What is she, your pet dog?"

Sam looked down, but Dean just answered absent-mindedly, "Yeah, just don't get in any trouble."

"Okay," she says walking out the door.

"You two have serious control issues when it comes to your sister, and you'd better knock it off or I'll take her with me and we won't come back," Ash half-threatens.

"She's the only family we have left," Sam replies.